If street photography is about capturing the chaotic hustle of city life, Boogie is the master of that skill. His photos zone in on offbeat moments usually closed off from the world. It’s a lens on life that’s difficult to look through, but rewards all those who do. In this short film, Huck wanders through London by the Serbian shooter’s side and turns the lens back on the source.
Boogie captures subjects in public places, letting each shot tell a different story and is, by some margin, one of the best photographic storytellers on the planet. He’s a product of Belgrade, but has lived in New York since 1998. His brutal, brilliant photos of gang culture in places like Brooklyn, New York (between 2003 and 2006), and Kingston, Jamaica (in 2011), earned him a cult following, and his five photobooks have cemented his reputation as a defining figure in street photography’s contemporary history.
But there’s more to Boogie than just gangs and guns – his subject matter charts everything from the mundane to the extreme; from everyday scenes to life on the fringes of society. French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson spoke of the decisive moment – literally, the single instant in any situation which will encapsulate it perfectly. Boogie is absurdly good at knowing just when that is, whether he’s following skinheads in Belgrade, standing on a bathtub as a crack addict jams a needle into a vein, or catching two Mexican mariachi musicians waiting for their ride to a gig.
To read the full interview with Boogie, get yourself a copy of Huck 43 – out March 9, 2014. You can pre-order a copy in the Huck shop, get a year’s subscription for just £22 or pick it up at your local newsstand.
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